Camp

Camp

Everyone likes to go to camp! In 1983, when we first arrived in Mexico, one of our first “tests” of ministry was attending and teaching in a camp for the deaf. Ronald Henson had started the camp ministry several years before, but because of lack of help and a change of location, they had not been able to maintain a yearly camp. Nineteen eighty-three and the year following, the camp was held with a hearing group at the beach, sleeping in tents and meeting in hot, humid conditions. From that time on, we started looking for locations and teachers to help with both the deaf ministries and their hearing children.

Since that time, we have missed two years of having camp, one because a camp location cancelled us out at the last moment and the other the year that the hurricane hit within 100 miles of where we were to meet. We later learned that the camp was covered with more than three feet of water for two days (what if we would have had 100+ DEAF campers to take care of with food, lodging and care in three feet of water??). At one camp, a young deaf boy drowned while under the care of his own grandfather. One camp a young deaf man appeared to be demon possessed as he sought to run away from camp. He was illiterate and could not speak well at all. He was going to leave and travel 8 hours back home, the first time he had ever been out of his own town. Three years ago, a young man acted so backward that we all thought he was retarded. It turned out he was a very smart man but wanted to test us to see our real motives. One year, the stories of the deaf slaves in several American cities broke only a few days before our camp (run by Americans) where we were supposed to take almost one hundred deaf all the way across the country to places they had never been before for FREE. We have to admit that several parents and a couple of police at roadside stops raised their eyebrows when told what we were doing.

The early days the entire staff was three or four of us to cook, teach, clean up, watch over the dorms, plan dramas, soul win, etc. It seems impossible today that we were able to accomplish what we did with so few to help. Each year we have new deaf folks come to know the Lord because of getting away from the worldly attractions and focusing on Christ. One of our Indian ladies was 14. She had refused to agree that she was a sinner. She was so well behaved we almost thought so ourselves. After sitting under the preaching for several days, she broke and wanted to be saved. After being dealt with, she dropped to her knees and in broken sign language prayed, “God, up there, I have dirty heart. Forgive me. Many sins. I repent. I ask Jesus come to me and save me.” It was one of the sweetest moments any of us have ever witnessed. Almost the first words a child (14) had ever “spoken” were to ask the Lord to save her.

Pray for our national deaf camp ministry.